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With that thought in mind, I passed out, the dizziness overtaking me.
When I woke up again, my hand still rose and fell on his back, so the first thing I registered was that he still breathed. Night had fallen outside, but I could hear the lightning still striking the ground outside with crackling pops and booms. Had the storm really never behaved in such a way before?
What was going on?
I scooted over a bit and rolled him so that I could see his face. It was hard to tell with darkness dragging long fingers of night into the cave, but he looked a little less singed. That has to be a good sign.
“Mace?” I spoke in a low voice. “Can you hear me?”
He didn’t reply. The others could probably hear me, but it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be able to hear their replies, and I had nothing to report anyway.
I was thirsty, and I’d bet he also needed hydration. My head was a little clearer, though my chest still hurt some from gagging earlier. Despite all the things I knew about healing, I’d never before faced an enhanced person recovering from a lightning strike, but water was always important. It was what I would’ve done for burns, anyway.
The cave was about the size of a small closet, which meant not much room to move around and no visible water. I poked my head outside, and I could see a river winding a silvery trail through the back of the orchid. It was risky, if I tried to cross the distance to get to it, and I’d have to hope I could find something on the riverbed to even carry the water back to him.
He’d shoved me out of the way and stopped me from dying, I reminded myself, cracking my knuckles in preparation. I could take a risk for him. I’d just have to hope the lightning didn’t strike me down. It couldn’t really come after me twice in one day, could it? And why was I thinking of it as coming after me? Lightning was random, so personifying it seemed silly.
Wasn’t it?
I shook out my arms, dancing from foot to foot as I tried to gear myself up for what needed to be done. “I’m trying to get Mace some water,” I said aloud. It was possible no one would hear me, but I said the words in case they could. “If I get struck down, that’s why. He needs help.”
I sprang into motion. Little buzzing jolts still assaulted my body, but once I got out of the cave, I could stand up enough to sort of angle my rear end into the air and half crawl, half walk to the river. Finding a rock with a hollowed-out indent, I decided it would have to do, and then I quickly found two others of a similar shape. I took a quick drink myself and then filled up three rocks, which was all I was going to be able to carry at once. Looking up, I jerked in shock. For just a second, I would have sworn I saw someone standing on the hill, with lightning striking all around him. I could feel his gaze on me where I filled the dented rocks with water.
I blinked and the person was gone, or maybe they’d never been there. Maybe I’m just half out of my mind, imagining ghosts in the ozone-filled air.
Putting my attention back to the rocks, I tried my best to fill them with water, despite my hands shaking with each new boom of sound. As soon as I got them filled again, I began to make tedious progress back to the cave. With my head still down, I made it back inside with a relieved sigh. “I’m back,” I said, just in case they were listening. Thinking they’d be listening for me when the storm went crazy put me in the narcissistic or selfish category, yet I still hoped they could hear me.
It took some maneuvering, but I set down the water, scooted up to Mace, then lifted his head into my lap. It was tricky, but I managed to get him to swallow some water, even though he stayed out cold the whole time. I hoped it would help.
After that, there was nothing for me to do besides watch the lightning and wonder if the man I saw on the hill was real or a hallucination. Not trusting my own mind was a problem. The circumstances made it seem likely her brain would come up with someone, just so she wasn’t alone in that moment, but she knew Johanna met a stranger… Could it be the person who poisoned JoHanna? Or was I really seeing things?
I put my hand in Mace’s hair and petted him, combing my fingertips through the strands in distraction. I was out of ways to help him, and my touch sadly couldn’t magically make him better. We would have to wait out the night. I watched the lightning, still feeling it nefarious somehow. Of course, what kind of creature could control the weather?
Or who?
I blinked. That wasn’t possible, was it?
I woke up, not remembering falling asleep, but sure my dreams were haunted by men with lightning in their gazes and smoke curling out of their nostrils like a dragon. I leaned against the cave wall, my hands still in Mace’s hair. The warmth and realness of his scalp against my fingers grounded me in the present, and I sighed.
“Hey,” Crew said, and I realized that he was there with us.
I rubbed my eyes. “Hi.” My heart tripped a bit at the sight of him. He looked so clean, so normal, so safe. I smiled despite myself, and wondered if they knew what to do for Super Soldiers struck by lightning. “Can you help him?”
“He’s going to be fine. His heart is strong, and he’s getting better. I’m a little bit more concerned about you.” He put his hand on my forehead. “You’re burning up.”
I blinked. Was I? “I…I didn’t realize.”
“I know. You were too busy venturing out into a lightning storm the likes of which we’ve never seen to get Mace water. Thank you for that, but no more. Come on.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if we should move him.”
Since he’d pointed out the fever, I became really full cognizant of it. Everything ached, and shivers left my limbs trembling. Yeah, I had fever. I winced. People died of fevers all the time; would that be it for me? Crew picked Mace up, sort of dragging him off my lap and out of the cave before he came back in for me. Crew did the same for me, and once I was finally back out in the sunshine, I saw Ransom and Gunnar nearby. Mace lay over Ransom’s shoulder, still unconscious from the look of him.
Once we exited the cave, Crew adjusted me so I was gently cradled in his arms like a child, with my head against his shoulder. I would have complained about the treatment, but the fine trembling quaked through my body, sapping my energy reserves.
“Let’s go back home. All will be well.”
I shook my head. Well wasn’t a word I usually applied to my life. Pain? Much more apt. “I have no idea why I’m sick.”
